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Need a job? Here’s who’s hiring right now in Canada

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As governments gradually lift restrictions linked to COVID-19, scores of unemployed Canadians have started looking for jobs.

What they face is very different from the pre-pandemic labour market, says Carolyn Levy of Randstad Canada.

At the beginning of the year, the country’s unemployment rate was hovering around 5.5 per cent, close to a record low. That was after the jobless rate had kept firmly under six per cent for all of 2019.

“It was a job-seekers’ market for a couple of years,” Levy says.

Now things have “really changed,” she adds.

Unemployment stood at an all-time high of 13.7 per cent in May, according to the latest available data from Statistics Canada. And that figure doesn’t come close to capturing the full impact of the pandemic on the labour market, economists warn.

University of Calgary professor Trevor Tombe, for example, put the effective jobless rate in May at 27.6 per cent, an estimate that accounts for those who were formally employed but working zero hours and unemployed people who weren’t actively looking for a job.

 

But the May labour market report also showed a gain of nearly 290,000 jobs, as businesses gradually reopened across Canada.

Indeed Canada said the trend in total job postings on its site was 41 per cent below last year’s pace as of June 12 compared to 43 per cent below year-ago levels the previous week and 48 per cent the previous month.

 

While hiring remains “subdued,” the rebound has started, with the pace of the recovery in total postings improving especially since mid-May, according to Indeed economist Brendon Bernard.

 

But some sectors are bouncing back faster than others.

Confidence among workers and jobseekers in manufacturing and construction, for example, has “really taken off,” as factories and building sites begin to reopen across the country, says LinkedIn news editor Riva Gold.

Meanwhile, the demand for front-line workers in both the health-care and retail sectors is likely to remain elevated for as long as parts of the economy remain in lockdown, Gold says.

 

Parts of the retail industry have been devastated by the effects of the health emergency. But large retailers like Save-On-Foods, Walmart Canada and Dollarama announced plans to ramp up hiring in the early stages of the pandemic in order to meet a surge in demand for consumers stocking up on food, toilet paper and other essentials.

 

Dollarama says it has hired “thousands of employees” since the beginning of the pandemic and is still adding jobs. “We continue to hire across Canada in the normal course of business and as our store network grows,” the company said in a statement to Global News.

Metro is also still taking on new recruits, with an emphasis on roles that are necessary to serve customers in stores and pharmacies, according to the company’s website.

Cleaners are another category for which the pandemic has created an increased need, says Randstad’s Levy.

In addition to stores and pharmacies, gyms are among the businesses growing their cleaning staff, Levy says. And those tend to be permanent positions, reflecting employers’ uncertainty about how long the current situation will last, she adds.

Also in high demand are those working in customer support, according to Randstad.

 

“Trust is a big issue,” when consumers are buying remotely, Levy says.

Online business has fuelled the need for more people answering phones, emails and social media queries to make sure that customers feel “heard and supported,” she adds.

The e-commerce surge tied to the pandemic has pushed online sales to a record-high of nearly 10 per cent of the total retail market, according to Statistics Canada.

This is also creating new demand for warehouse support and drivers, according to Levy.

Job postings for loading and stocking roles such as forklift operator and positions in shipping and receiving have seen an uptick in recent weeks, Bernard says.

And more business moving online as storefronts closed likely also created a need for tech upgrades and the software developers able to implement them, Bernard says.

In general, the IT services sector has withstood the slump well, data shows.

Worker sentiment in the industry has remained at “fairly steady, high levels” throughout the pandemic both in terms of job security and career outlook, according to LinkedIn’s Gold.

“There is still a talent shortage in that space,” Levy says.

Tech companies have continued to hire throughout the lockdown.

Video game developer Ubisoft, for example, has more than 100 openings in Montreal.

And workplace messaging platform Slack told Global News it’s currently looking to fill 11 positions for its Toronto and Vancouver offices, although it recently announced most employees will have the option to work remotely on a permanent basis, if they wish.

While the company said the pandemic hasn’t changed its short-term hiring plans in Canada, there’s little doubt the future looks bright from where Slack is sitting.

The company saw 50 per cent revenue growth year-over-year for the quarter ended April 30 as the shift to remote work increased demand for online platforms that enable employees to stay connected and work in teams.

Slack co-founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield has called the results “phenomenal.”

“We believe the long-term impact the three months and counting of working from home will have on the way we work is of generational magnitude,” he added.

 

You can search up Jobs at Jooble

 

Source: – Global News

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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